Bag stand



Dec. 15, 1964 E. B. BAHNSEN 3,161,391

BAG STAND Filed July 24, 1961 INVENTOR. ERWIN B. BAHNSEN ATTORNEYS3,161,391 BAG STAND Erwin ll. Bahnsen, Hinsdale, llh, assignor toSteiner American (Zorporation, dalt Lake City, Utah, a corporation ofNevada I Filed July 24, 1961, Ser. No. 126,180 ll Gains. (Cl. Zed-99)This invention relates to a bag stand or holder and particularly to adevice adapted to support a laundry bag in an open suspended position.

The linen supply industry supplies fresh table cloths, napkins, aprons,towels, etc. to commercial enterprises such as hotels, restaurants,ofiice buildings and the like. After the linens have been soiled in use,they are picked up from the customer by the supplying company forlaundering. Inasmuch as a variety of liners may be used by a singlecustomer, it is advantageous to segregate the soiled linens at thecustomers place of business. This procedure saves time for the linensuppliers route man and for the laundry that washes the linens. Tofacilitate segregating aprons from naplc ns and towels from tableclothsetc. an individual laundry bag is supplied to the customer for each typeof linen. To insure that the customers employees will regularly use thelaundry bags as intended each bag is suspended in an open condition onan individual bag stand. Heretofore, the laundry bag stands provided forthis purpose were expensive to manufacture and cumbersome. Morespecifically, prior art bag stands used clips, lugs, spikes and so forthto fasten the bag to the stand. This feature promoted teasing of the bagin removing it from the stand.

Many prior laundry bag stands obtained the requisite lateral stabilityfor supporting the heavily loaded laundry bags by having a plurality ofvertically disposed legs rigidly secured to a circular hoop frame. Thesestands occupied valuable storage space when not in use because they didnotlend themselves to stacking. A shortcoming of prior art standsdesigned to circumvent the awkward storage problem by having collapsibleprovisions, is that lateral stability was sacrificed and the stands wereeasily upset if a passerbys foot caught around a leg of the stand.

An important object of my invention is to provide an improved bag standwhich overcomes prior problems and is simple in design and construction,highly practical in use, economical to manufacture, and adapted tosupport a heavy load of soiled linen in' a stable manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bag stand .and a laundryreceptacle incorporating the stand, the latter being adapted to maintaina laundry bag in an open end suspended condition by receiving a cuffaround the top of the bag over an upper element of the stand.

Still another object is to provide a stand of the type set forth whichis formed from a single length of bent metal rod.

Yet another object is to provide a stand of the type set forth fromwhich a heavy bag of soiled linen may be removed by sliding either thebag or the stand horizontally with no requirement for lifting the bag.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved laundry bagstand that may be used indiscriminately upside down or right side up.

Additional features of the invention pertain to the particulararrangement of the elements whereby the aboveoutlined and otheroperating features thereof are attained.

The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation,together with further objects and advantages thereof will best beunderstood by reference to the following specification taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing in which like numerals are usedto designate like parts throughout and in which:

A United States Patent ()fiice dddlfihl Patented'Dec. 15, 1 964 FIGURE 1is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a bag stand made inaccordance with and embodying the principles of the present invention;

P16. 2 is a perspective view of a laundry receptacle which includes thebag stand and a laundry bag supported thereby;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the laundry stand of FIG. 1diagrammatically illustrating its resilient change under load.

There is shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing a bag stand generally designatedby the numeral 16 made in accordance with and embodying the principlesof the invention. The stand ltl comprises a supporting yoke or frame 12,a base frame 14- and two struts 16 and 18.

' The yoke 12 is horizontally disposed and generally U-shaped in plan,providing an enclosure having spaced apart ends. More particularly, theyoke 12 is a bent rod section having a pair of longitudinally extendingand laterally spaced parallel aligned arms 26 and 22. The arms areconnected at corresponding ends thereof to a crossbar 24 which isperpendicular to the arms.

An important function of the yoke 12 is to support a laundry bag 2d sothat soiled linens may be deposited therein. Specifically, a cuff 28having a draw string 30, arranged around the upper perimeter of thelaundry bag 26 is folded downwardly over the arms 2tl22 and the bar 24,which are received within the cuif. A snug fit is effected when the drawstring 3th is pulled tight. The top of the'laundry bag 26 is therebydistended to form a mouth 32 into which the soiled linen is thrown.

The base 14 is horizontally disposed below the yoke 12 in a spacedparallel plane, and it is also generally U- shaped in plan. The base 1d,however, is reversed from or oriented to extend in a direction oppositeto the yoke 12. The base 14 is a bent rod section having a pair oflongitudinally extending and laterally spaced parallel aligned arms 34and, 35 connected at the corresponding end thereof to a crossbar 38perpendicular thereto.

The end of the arm 34 not connected to the lower crossbar 38 is joinedto the lower end of the obliquely vertically disposed strut 16, to forman elbow joint 49. The end of the arm 2% of the yoke 12 not connected tothe upper crossbar Ed is joined to the opposite upper end of the strut16, to form an oppositely directed elbow joint 52. ,On the opposite sideof the stand 10, the end of the arm 36 not connected to the lowercrossbar 38 is joined to a lower end of the obliquely disposed strut 18,to form an elbow joint 44. The end of the arm 22. of the yoke 12 notconnected to the crossbar 24 is joined to the opposite upper end of thestrut 18 to form an elbow joint 46. The struts l6 and 18 preferably arein spaced parallel aligned relation, and they extend obliquely outwardlyover the base frame 14 and under the supporting frame 12.

The upper arms 20 and 22 preferably are parallel to and lie in verticalplanes with the respective lower arms 34 and 36, together with therespective connecting struts 16 and 118. The sides 43 and 5th of thestand thus preferably are aligned in spaced parallel vertical planes,and have a generally sinuous configuration, more particularly, aZ-shaped or zig-zag configuration. The yoke 12 preferably issuperimposed on the base 14 in vertical alignment, the planes thereofbeing substantially parallel. As

illustrated by the two positions in FIG. 3, the yoke resil-' ientlymoves slightly rearwardly of the base as it is loaded. Alternatively,the yoke may be disposed slightly forwardly of the base so that the twoapproach vertical alignment when loaded. In the illustrative embodiment,the yoke and the base have the same dimensions. However, the base may beextended to increase the stability, or it may be smaller than the yoke.

The sides 48 and 50 of the stand are bent rod sections forming zig-zagsprings which are resiliently compressible under load. They bend for themost part at the strut and arm elbow joints 40, 42, 44 and 46. Somebending of the struts and arms may also take place. This constructionaffords a strong yet lightweight stand which does not incur permanentdeformation under a heavy load, but yields under load and subsequentlyreturns to its initial shape. A representative force P (FIG. 3) as wouldbe applied by a loaded laundry bag 26, thus will cause the angularitybetween the struts 16-18, and the yoke 12 and base 14 to decrease as theload P is increased, bringing the base and yoke closer together. Thecenter of gravity of the load is kept within the boundaries of the base,near the center of the base.

The laundry bag stand preferably has a one-piece bent-rod construction.For example, it may be made from a single length of diameter cold rolledsteel rod, or from a tubular rod, it may have an overall height adaptedfor suspending a laundry bag above the floor of about 30". The rod isbent to provide the interconnected Z-shaped sides and the ends of therods may be secured together as by a weld indicated at 52 in FIGS. 1 and2. The bends produced preferably have smooth ample radii for bending andto eliminate sharp projections and obviate the possibility of tearingthe laundry bag during installation or removal thereof.

Although the illustrative configurations of the yoke 12 and the base 14are generally rectangular, it is also contemplated that the yoke 12 andbase 14 may be made semi-circular or in other configurations toaccommodate variously designed laundry bags. The struts 16-18 may beformed in shapes other than those shown in the drawings; for example,S-shaped strut elements provide the desired resilient support.

When the laundry bag 26 is installed on the stand 10 as previouslydescribed, the bag is suspended with its bottom 54 above the base 14 anda few inches 01? of the floor, with the top held in an open position toreceive laundry. The stand is also constructed for supporting thelaundry bag off of the floor when full, to allow air circulation belowthe bag. To remove the laundry bag 26 from the stand 10, the draw string30 is untied and the cuff 28 slipped ofi the yoke 12. The laundry bag 26then drops to the floor and can be removed from the stand by pullingeither the bag or the stand horizontally, in the direction in which thearms extend, with no vertical lifting of either being required.

Several bag equipped stands 10 may be placed conveniently in an alignedrow to receive soiled linens of different varieties, e.g., one fortablecloths, a second for napkins, and a third for towels. Theillustrative stand 10 is generally rectangular in plan, and it may bealigned with others in compact side-by-side relation. When the bag stand10 is not in use and is to be stored along with other stands of the sametype, the several stands may be nested together so as to take up littlestorage space.

Another feature of the stand 10 in use is that no clips, lugs,fasteners, etc. are needed to secure the conventional commercial laundrybag to the stand. Also, the yoke 12 and the base 14 may be substantiallythe same size, so that their functions are interchangeable at will. Thusthe bag stand 10 may be used either upside down or rightside UPI It isapparent that there has been provided a laundry bag stand that is simpleand economical in design and construction, and adapted to resilientlysupport a heavily loaded bag of soiled linen in a stable manner, whichaccomplishes the objects and advantages set forth above.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described, itwill be understood that various changes and modifications may be madetherein, and it is intended to cover in the appended claim all suchchanges and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope ofthe invention.

What is claimed is:

A bag stand of single-piece, resilient rod construction, comprising: apair of spaced parallel aligned upright Z-shaped sides, each sideincluding a substantially horizontal upper arm and a substantiallyhorizontal lower arm of equal length, with said upper arm disposeddirectly above said lower arm, each said upper and lower arms of eachsaid side being respectively joined at their opposite ends by a strutintegral therewith; a first crossbar interconnecting the free ends ofsaid upper arms and integral therewith; and a second crossbarinterconnecting the free ends of said lower arms and integral therewith;said lower arms and said second crossbar providing a base for saidstand, and said upper arms and said first crossbar providing ahorizontally disposed yoke for receiving and supporting the uppermarginal portion of a laundry bag or the like, the resilience of saidarms and said struts permitting said yoke to be resiliently displaceddirectly toward said base when subjected to a load, the right-sideup andupside-down positions of said stand being indistinguishable, and saidstand being adapted to be closely nested with like stands in storage.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 822,277 6/06Hotchkiss 248- X 945,520 1/ 10 Greenwood 248175 1,052,379 2/ 13 Ranken24897 X FOREIGN PATENTS 527,100 7/21 France.

68,229 10/29 Sweden. 94,734 2/ 3 9 Sweden. 13,656 11/96 Switzerland.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Examiner.

